XRT 4D Flashback Weekend With U2

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We’re celebrating 40 years of XRT. It’s the XRT 4D Flashback Weekend. I so remember the 80’s. I was too old for cabbage patch dolls and my knees couldn’t handle double dutch, and too young to have an early dinner with Dr. Ruth, but I was prime age for some great music. At the beginning of the decade we started playing singles from some new band from Dublin. U2.

By 1981 they were on the road promoting their debut album Boy and played the park west twice that year, in April and December. These days it takes 120 trucks to lug their gear around on tour. Their bus broke down in 81 on their way to one of those park west gigs. They did make it. Better late than never.

In 1983 they were hitting the big time playing the Aragon on tour for their first number one album, War. That’s when MTV went nuts on them and made them superstars. Remember when the “M” in MTV stood for music? It was the War album that got me to call them to get them involved with the Chicago Peace Museum.

That’s a book in itself. and that inspired The Unforgettable Fire album in 1984 and that tour brought them back for two dates at the UIC Pavilion in March of 1985. We got to see these guys from the beginning, going from a struggling Irish band to the pinnacle of success, and not just sell records, but becoming the conscience of a generation.

If Bono ever wins the Nobel Peace Prize, I hope he mentions Chicago.

You can get the full 4D Experience right here all weekend. Check back as we post selections from past issues of Inside XRT, our listener newsletter.

The first in a series of four monthly XRT 4D Flashback Weekends is devoted to The 1980’s. Tune in this weekend to hear exclusive audio essays contributed by the entire XRT airstaff regarding some of the most memorable events of that era, cultural, political, and of course, musical, as well as personal perspectives on the impact the 80’s had on our lives.

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